1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of communications, and in particular, to systems that dynamically adjust backhaul delay parameters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Communication service providers, such as wireless telecommunication carriers, common carriers, cable multi-service operators, or the like, typically strive to provide high quality communication services. Factors from the quality of a handset used on a wireless call to congestion levels experienced on a network could negatively impact the quality or performance of a particular communication.
In many cases, establishing and perfecting the timing of various network operations plays a large role in determining the overall quality of a communication. In one particularly problematic area, determining and setting appropriate levels of allowed backhaul delay has become increasingly difficult as instances of diverse backhaul have become more common.
Typically, backhaul traffic is transmitted, transported, or carried in discrete part, such as packets, frames, or timeslots, depending upon the type of the backhaul. Regardless of the form of the discrete traffic, when received at a receiving end, such as a device or a central communication node, each portion of traffic has a delay relative to when the traffic left or was sent by the transmitting end of a link. Traffic delay is a well known concept in the art.
In many situations, traffic delay impacts the performance or quality of a communication. In a video example, too much traffic delay could cause jitter or other undesirable characteristics at the receiving and viewing end of the video. Likewise, too much traffic delay could cause interruptions in voice calls. In the case of mobile telephony, roaming functions, such as hand-offs between base stations, could be impacted. Other consequences of delay are well known.
In an effort to lessen the consequences of traffic delay, many communication systems simply discard traffic having a delay that exceeds an acceptable delay parameter or window. Typically, it is desirable to set the delay window as small as possible. However, a delay window that is too small will result in too much discarded traffic. While a large delay window results in little discarded traffic, slow traffic can lead to other system or network degradations. Thus, network engineers are constantly challenged with setting delay windows to appropriate levels.